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Friday, July 7, 2017

Believe it or not, Delhi has just 15 dangerous buildings : TOI

NEW DELHI: Delhi has only 15 dangerous buildings. Yes, if the figures of the annual survey of structurally precarious buildings for 2017, released by the three civic bodies on Monday, are to be believed, there are just 10 unstable buildings in north Delhi, four in east Delhi and a single one under the south corporation's area.

This announcement is incredible, coming ironically just a day after two structure collapses, a four-storey building in east Delhi's Laxmi Nagar and wall in south-west Delhi's Rajokri. The collapses immediately questioned the credibility of the system used by the capital's civic bodies in identifying and dealing with structurally unstable buildings. This annual exercise is conducted by the engineering departments of the corporations three months before the onset of monsoon. In this year's survey, over 4.2 lakh houses were inspected by the north body, 3.17 lakh by the east and over 8.2 lakh houses by the south corporation.

Of the 10 dangerous buildings reported by the north corporation, seven are inSadar Paharganjzone, two in Karol Bagh and one in Old Delhi. East has reported two structures each in Shahdara North and South, though two of them are considered to be in reparable state. The south body found only one building beyond repair, in Vikaspuri. RWAs termed the findings as "bunkum". Chetan Sharma, chairman, Federation of GK-2 RWAs, tartly remarked, "These reports are created sitting in office."

Defending the findings of the survey, officials from the corporations said that the "junior engineers who carry out these exercises use 'visual survey' to identify such structures". As one explained, "In the field, if engineers see structures that are bent or show cracks, then they inspect the structure from the interior. The owner is then given a notice to have the building repaired. If he/she does not comply, we demolish the structure."

The question is whether that is adequate given so many lives are at risk. Requesting anonymity, some engineering department officials admitted that the current methodology of determining unstable buildings was obsolete.